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The person before him, Arthur had seen before.
He had seen him the first time Marinda invited him to 6 White Bird Street!
Even when the female servant Ilena had used ice to hide the poison to kill Brody, he had boldly spoken out— it was that male servant who seemed to have a good relationship with Ilena!
’Impossible!’
’It couldn’t be Ilena’s!’
’You must have made a mistake!’
Arthur still remembered how the man had boldly spoken out then.
"I never expected it to be you!
You’re called...
Horton, right?"
When Arthur asked, there was no hiding his surprise in his tone—
After the incident where the servant Ilena had poisoned someone, Marinda had checked all the servants, and Horton, who had been the first to speak up, was naturally the first to be checked.
Similarly, he was the first to be cleared of suspicion.
His record was clean, and after he was hired, he had always been diligent and honest. Although there were some minor flaws in the matter with Ilena, it was to be expected of a young man.
And the period of despondency afterward?
It just convinced everyone around him further that he was not a suspect.
Therefore, after it was confirmed that there was a member of the ’Death Poetry Society’ who was a completely ordinary person inside 6 White Bird Street, the suspicion towards him had greatly reduced!
He was investigated, too, but with the detailed groundwork laid before, the attention of those investigating was more easily drawn to others.
It wasn’t that the investigators weren’t cautious enough.
It was just that Horton in front of him was too good an actor.
Especially with that setup, it was admirable.
Daring to ’Hide under the light’, was surprising enough.
And to lay out ’Hide under the light’ beforehand was even more remarkable.
Without having a thorough understanding of everything around, such a setup would have been impossible.
"Truly remarkable!"
Arthur sighed and raised his hand clapping.
"No!
My actions cannot be considered remarkable!
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You are the one who truly surprised me—
Lord Arthur Kredos!"
The member of the ’Death Poetry Society’ before him, while manipulating an Exquisite Human Puppet, stared intently at Arthur and asked directly.
"To divert attention and make up for the ’Axe Murderer’s flaws, Ilena’s incident was completely improvised by me, hence it was quite rough.
To others, it may not be apparent,
but to you, the flaws must seem even more significant, right?
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Was it at that time that you started watching me?
That is also why you always manage to spot the traces of my web.
Just as I’ve laid my plans, you choose to unravel them!
You wish to exhaust me and make me reveal my flaws!
Now?
Your wish has come true!
I’ve revealed my flaws!"
The man spread his hands with a look of resignation as he spoke.
Arthur maintained a nonchalant expression as if everything was as the man had said, but inwardly he was cursing.
’So it was true!
I felt something was off at the time, I always felt like someone was spinning a big web—I thought it was aimed at me, but who knew this guy was planning a ritual!
Tsk, I wonder if he’d believe me if I said it was coincidence?’
Arthur inwardly exclaimed at the surprise, while the ’Death Poetry Society’ member continued to operate the Exquisite Human Puppet and said—
"To be honest, I’d been driven to a corner before.
A series of failures had made the higher-ups of the ’Death Poetry Society’ very dissatisfied with me.
Even some of the support I had was fading away quietly.
Because…
they thought you were also a ’Child of Death’!"
Saying this, the man’s resigned face showed a hint of anger.
His tone of voice began to rise at this moment—
"This is also your reciprocation for my arranging the ’Axe Murderer’ to provoke you!
You’re telling me that you’ve guessed my identity and you want me to behave!
But...
Would you believe me if I said it was that bastard’s own move?"
```
Arthur: Ah, right, right, right, whatever you say.
Though internally he was full of complaints, the young "Spirit Medium" cooperated very well, frowning as if the answer was beyond his own expectations.
The other side was buying time to complete the Ritual.
He, too, was buying time to find the other side.
Moreover, to make it more natural and avoid being detected, he had to provide the other side with emotional value.
Therefore, while Fujin was searching, Arthur spoke up.
"Do you mean this is a misunderstanding?"
"Of course!
That greedy bastard, after a series of successes, set his sights on my employer, the ’Lady of the Long Night’—his head is filled with dog shit...
He has no idea how big a mistake he’s made.
If it weren’t for this bastard, I think we could have been friends."
The other’s speech began to calm down.
Afterwards, the look in his eyes towards Arthur was filled with regret.
"It’s a pity, because of a greedy bastard, we missed out on each other.
Are you looking for the arrangements I’ve made here?
Let me show you!"
The other side said and then began to laugh.
And the next moment—
The earth quaked and the mountains shook!
The trees in the dense forest were uprooted, and a huge altar made entirely of skeletons rose from the ground.
The altar was 10 meters high and 50 meters long and wide.
At each corner stood a 3-meter tower.
Layer upon layer of skeleton heads piled up, with a single strand of hair flowing out from the mouth of the topmost skull, straight down toward the ground.
The closer to the ground this hair strand was, the thicker it became, until it reached the ground, where the single hair had become as thick as a thigh, a rope made entirely of dry hair.
Four thigh bones were pegging this hair rope into the ground.
And in the front, behind the "Exquisite Human Puppet" controlled by a member of the Death Poetry Society, a staircase made entirely of cervical and thoracic bones revealed itself, step by step.
With every emergence of a skeletal step, a thick Death Qi erupted from the ground.
By the time sixty-six steps appeared, the Death Qi was so dense it loomed over the dense forest like dark clouds.
Any bird that entered into the Death Qi lost its life.
And any ordinary person who entered this area was eroded by the Death Qi and their vitality sapped.
"You see, this is what I’ve prepared for you—but you’re too cautious. Since you appeared, you’ve kept a safe distance from me, not giving me the slightest chance!
So, I’ve generously shown you."
The other side said.
Of course, Arthur didn’t believe a word of it.
The situation in front of him was exactly as he had guessed.
The other party was using everything in sight to once again capture the remaining people’s attention.
And that visible Death Qi?
Naturally, it was to conceal the start of the ’Grudge Rite.’
’The sky, perhaps?’
Arthur scanned the Death Qi cloud without a hint of alarm, and Fujin immediately crept closer.
Ordinary birds, approaching this concentration of Death Qi, were certainly doomed.
Even an Arcane Creature couldn’t bear it.
But Fujin, completely enhanced by Arthur’s "Breath of Death" Talent, felt no discomfort whatsoever, blending into it like a fish to water.
Of course, acting along with him were...
Underground!
A horde of mice neared the base of the high altar from below.
When unsure whether the dense Death Qi that seemed like dark clouds was a mere illusion, this was just Arthur acting on instinctual caution.
Seeing Arthur remain silent, the other side spoke with a smile—
"I admire your observational skills and cleverness.
But I am also not convinced.
You have too many advantages, so I hope to have a fair match with you—
If you win, I’ll surrender without a fight.
If I win, how about you agree to three requests from me?"
"What will we compete in?"
Arthur showed a keen interest.
The other side didn’t speak again but simply raised his hand and pulled from his sleeve...
A deck of poker cards.